The time has come again for the annual Zoowalk for Autism at the Phoenix Zoo.

The walk is coordinated by the Arizona State University Autism/Aspergers Research Program and the Autism Research Institute. All funds raised go to these programs. This year, their goal is $150,000 for a study of several autism treatments including diet and nutritional supplements in 100 children and adults with autism.

The walk will be held on Saturday, October 17, 2009 at the Phoenix Zoo. The zoo is closed to all but zoowalkers from 6:30-9am, however participants have access to the zoo the remainder of the day. It is a lot of fun, while raising funds for a great cause at the same time.

Right now, I am taking two courses online, Patrol Procedures and Officer Safety. They should be interesting. But unfortunately they are both taught by the same person. And her organization drives me a little crazy. Especially the fact that the reading material she provides has nothing to do with the assignments. Its just stupid.

I take classes year round (the summer would be so boring otherwise…..). But I don’t know why, I love this time of year when the new school year is just starting. I don’t know, somehow its just so exciting 🙂

It also helps that I just got notification that I got a scholarship ($1000 per semester, renewable for 6 semesters) from Phi Theta Kappa. Not too shabby.

Also nice that I just ordered some stuff to practice my german (it was exciting that I understood enough to navigate Amazon’s German website). It should be here in 8-12 business days. Yay!

I don’t like taking medication, of any sort. No particular reason, other than I don’t like masking symptoms and I think medications are over-hyped and over-used.

Well, in the past 3 years, I’ve had a number of surgeons suggest a cortisone injection into my knee. And every time I’ve said no. I don’t think cortisone solves any problems it just masks the symptoms. Last Thursday, I reluctantly agreed to try it.

Worst pain ever.

At first they said, symptoms may appear worse the first 24-48 hours (this is due to the cortisone crystalizing). And to ice and take ibuprofen (cortisone is an anti-inflammatory steroid, why should I take another anti-inflammatory). 4 days late, I was still in a lot of pain, this time they said that pain may be present for up to a week and that I could take darvocet (I think not…).

The one week mark has come and gone. As of today:

I have a very limited range of motion (pre-cortisone I had near normal range of motion)

My knee is still swollen

My knee is bruised (hasn’t been like that for a long time)

My knee has this constant sharp pain on the medial side (this hasn’t been a problem since the initial injury 3 years ago)

My knee still aches and hurts around the patella

I now have a sharp pain shooting up and down my leg

It takes less time for my knee to get tired when I’m standing

In the evening the muscles around my knee sort of spasms

I don’t know if my knee is still catching because I can’t move it

This stinks. I didn’t want cortisone in the first place and its just making things worse…

As long as I can remember, summer nights have been plagued by “killer bugs.” These are huge bugs that hiss and fly (poorly) and get stuck in your hair.

Well, it’s midnight, and I’m still awake, so I figured I might as well find out more about the killer bugs, or should I say Polyphylla decemlineata. It is more commonly known as the long haired june bug. More info and pictures can be found here or here.